OWC Launches First Thunderbolt 5 NVMe Enclosure, Aims for 6,622MB/s Performance

This release directly addresses storage bottlenecks for professionals working with high-resolution video, offering a performance and capacity upgrade path via Thunderbolt 5. The ability to use user-supplied NVMe drives and scale capacity through daisy-chaining provides significant flexibility and cost control in an evolving market. As media file sizes continue to grow, the sustained high-speed transfer capabilities will become a baseline requirement, prompting other hardware manufacturers to integrate Thunderbolt 5 into their product lines to remain competitive.

The OWC Express 4M2 Ultra has been recognized with Future’s Best of Show Award at NAB 2026, presented by TV Tech (OWC Blog, April 2026). Industry experts evaluated the enclosure for its innovation, feature set, and real-world application, citing its DIY RAID performance in a compact form factor. OWC's CEO, Larry O’Connor, highlighted the product's design in various outlets like eTeknix (April 2026) and CineD (April 2026), emphasizing its ability to utilize the full bandwidth of Thunderbolt 5, provide users with control over their drives and RAID configurations, and its future-ready scalability. The product's debut at NAB 2026 underscored its positioning for creative and production professionals managing large data pipelines. Pre-orders for the Express 4M2 Ultra began shipping in late May, with broader availability through channel partners and Amazon expected from mid-June to early July (CineD, April 2026). Discussions around the launch, such as on NERDS.xyz (April 2026), also brought up the volatility of NAND flash pricing, which has seen increases since May 2024, impacting storage costs and prompting professionals to consider mixed storage strategies combining flash with spinning drives for optimal cost and performance.